Samsung Vs. Apple Tit-For-Tat Down Under 313
New submitter GumphMaster writes "In the latest edition of the Apple vs. Samsung patent fight, the ABC is reporting that Samsung has filed in Australian and Japanese courts seeking an injunction to halt sales of the iPhone 4S for alleged 3G patent violations. It remains to be seen whether Samsung has any better luck with the retaliatory strike in Australian and Japanese courts than it did with courts in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, I expect that Samsung will fail partly because of overseas precedent, but mostly because their patents are sane, technical and narrow in scope (unlike the patent-a-rectangle nature of the opposition). If this stupidity ever stops, then millions of dollars, euro, or Won that are being spent on lawyers might actually go into the innovation that patents are meant to promote. Who knows where that might lead?"
Re:MS Stole Apple's Lunch Money in the 80's (Score:2, Informative)
"The first successful commercial GUI product was the Apple Macintosh, which was heavily inspired by PARC's work; Xerox was allowed to buy pre-IPO stock from Apple, in exchange for engineer visits and an understanding that Apple would create a GUI product."
I wish people would steal from me and offer pre-IPO stock...
Re:MS Stole Apple's Lunch Money in the 80's (Score:5, Informative)
Please read this article. It's not very long.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/16/110516fa_fact_gladwell [newyorker.com]
Apple asked Xerox politely if it could have its lunch money and Xerox handed it over willingly in exchange for lunch... futures.
Look, I don't know about making this a metaphor. Point is that the "Apple stole from Xerox" thing is basically a myth. It was all above board. Xerox may seriously regret giving away the idea of the century in exchange for basically nothing but that doesn't change what happened.
Re:Not (primarily) about round-rects (Score:4, Informative)
It's not just that. It's also shit like this [samsung.com].
That came from this/ screen cap. [flickr.com]
It's absurd.
Re:Not-quite-objective summary (Score:4, Informative)
You mean the one with an asymmetric bezel, 10 buttons, and a completely different profile [thefoxisblack.com]?
Re:Not (primarily) about round-rects (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, we already know that it's not just "round rectangles." Even Gumph.
What he said was "[...] the patent-a-rectangle nature [...]," emphasis mine.
Even taken all together, Apple's design patent could be used to take practically all smartphones off the market, and certain aspects have been common in computers and phones for over a decade. The "patent-a-rectangle" part is just highlighting one obviously silly piece of a silly patent.
Re:MS Stole Apple's Lunch Money in the 80's (Score:4, Informative)
What the... there's nothing about lawsuits in there. It just talks about the negotiations between Xerox and Apple, and how Apple didn't just copy what they saw, but tweaked and expanded on it massively until it was a completely different product.
Xerox's claims were dismissed because the claims they made were not actual violations of law. The court also didn't uphold any of Apple's claims vs Microsoft either, other than some silly stuff about a trash can icon, so it's not like Xerox lost out because they didn't dot their 'i's while mean old Apple Legal raped and pillaged.
Re:Not (primarily) about round-rects (Score:5, Informative)
Someone already did make an antitroll image [googleusercontent.com]
Re:Hey, buddy. (Score:4, Informative)
Have you ever even looked at the evidence against Samsung? I'm guessing not since you posted Anonymous. They copied the design, the icons, the packaging, even the power adapter is identical. This isn't some 'vague look and feel', but pretty much straight clone. It is an obvious attempt to cash in on customer confusion.
http://copyrightcommerceandculture.com/2011/05/12/did-samsung-copy-apples-iphone-ipad/ [copyrightc...ulture.com]
http://www.idownloadblog.com/2011/09/29/apple-samsung-copycat-2/ [idownloadblog.com]
How can you look at the above links and call it 'vague'? Hell they even got caught using iPhone graphics on their own webpage.
http://feeds.appleinsider.com/click.phdo?i=d1a78f8d91e14e80da004b76d84dbe93 [appleinsider.com]
I mean seriously?